2000 -- The Year I Lived in Three Places

Strangely, this is a difficult year to remember. I'll start with the whole Y2k thing since I do remember that. Vic, Sarina, and I were living in a townhouse in Superior. It had three levels and was very narrow. The toilets were back up at least once a week. I think they tried to save money by using narrower pipes than are normally used in plumbing. I was working for Duft, Graziano, & Forest in Boulder. I had started there in August of 1999, shortly after completing my paralegal certification.

I was reading "Your Money or Your Life" and trying to save and invest as much money as I could. I managed to save and invest $10,000 very quickly because I was used to living on a lot less money than what I was earning at the law firm. Unfortunately, I had invested in tech mutual funds and they took a dive in November of 1999, so I was stressing out about that and whether I should ride it out or sell. Looking back, I can see very clearly that I should have sold them (I never should have bought them in the first place), but Marian and the books I was reading said that if you invest in the stock market, it's best to just ride out that waves. (Bad advice.)

So, we were living in the cave-like townhouse. I was stressing over money because I wanted to retire in seven or fewer years. I was going to a writers' group twice a month, polishing up "Pandora's Box." I was overweight. I had long, blond hair. I think I was mildly depressed, but not bad enough to take medication.

When the lease was up on our townhouse at the end of February, they wanted to raised the rent another $200 per month! We decided to leave. We moved to a two-bedroom apartment in Boulder on Arapahoe next to the Fairways Golf Course. Except for the fact that the place got very little sunlight, it was half-bad.

The Christmas of 1999 must have been the year you were selling spirals at Crossroads Mall and I would come by during lunch and after work to visit you. It was nice having you working across the street from me. I'm sure it was that year because in August of 2000, Duft, Graziano, & Forest moved it's office to a new building in Louisville.

This must have been the summer that Vic, Sarina, and I drove to Wisconsin to visit his family. I did even stay overnight. I left my car for Vic to use and had Marion pick me up that evening around 5:00pm. Not that I had anything against his family, but we were at his sister Suzi's house. She was having a birthday party that night and the people who were showing up for her party were already drunk off their asses when they arrived in the early afternoon.

Thank goddess, Marian rescued me from that hellish world. We went back to her home in Illinois and stayed for a week. Then the day before Vic was supposed to pick me up and begin our return to Denver, his mom called to say he was in jail.

Marian and I had to drive out there to get my car. My license had been suspended for driving without insurance, so I couldn't drive all the way from Illinois to Denver. I did drive the car from Wisconsin to Illinois, though. Then I bought two plane tickets at Sarina and I flew from Chicago Midway to Denver. I left my car at Marian's house and said I would figure out what to do with it once I got my life back in order.

When I arrived in Denver, Sarina and I took the RTD bus back to Boulder. I was two days late getting back to work. I had to ride my bike 5 miles to work and 5 miles home everyday with Sarina on the back. But actually, I remember that time with fondness. I got in really good shape! I was getting some excellent exercise every day and getting to see the beautiful open spaces in Boulder. I had found the best way to bike to and from work so as to make it the most enjoyable experience possible. And it was enjoyable.

Finally Vic was released from jail. We made arrangements for him to pick up the car at Marian's house and drive it back to Denver. His friend Marie followed him back to Denver in her own car. She came to stay with us in that two-bedroom apartment. I had already decided that I was going to tell him I wanted to break up. I wanted my own place to live.

Months went by and nothing happened. Finally, he dropped the last straw that broke my back. Marie had asked me if I wanted to go see Charlie's Angels. I said, "Sure, let me see if Vic can watch Sarina tonight." So when Vic got home from work, I asked him. He said he didn't know. But Marie went to bed and it was getting late, so I figured it wasn't going to happen. Finally I went to bed. Vic and Sarina were in the livingroom watching television. Then I heard the front door of the apartment open and close. I waited a few minutes and didn't hear any sound in the apartment other than the television. So I got up to check on Sarina. She was sitting in the livingroom by herself. Vic and Marie had left the apartment and hadn't bothered to mention to me that my three-year-old would be sitting by herself in the livingroom.

I though surely they had just walked across the parking lot to buy cigarettes and would be back in a few minutes. I took Sarina into the bedroom with me and we went back to sleep. The next morning, I woke up and they were still gone. I was seething with rage. Not because they had left without me. I couldn't have cared less anymore what Vic did. I was enraged that these two people, whom I trusted, had left Sarina sitting by herself and hadn't even the decency to mention that they were going to be leaving for the entire night.

But in the end, it was for the best. I'd been waiting for both of them to find other places to live. Instead, I decided it was time for me to make that move. No negotiations. I'd already tried that. I was leaving and they could figure out for themselves how to pay the rent.

So I got the morning paper and my coffee and circled apartments for rent, then began my search (by this time I had sorted out all of the legalities around getting my license back). When Vic and Marie returned, I just told Vic very calmly that I was moving out and he and Marie could do whatever they wanted about the rent, then left it at that.

I found a two bedroom tri-plex in Lakewood (this is a great story of using creative visualization that I need to write about). I moved in November. I liked that little place. The only thing I didn't like about it was the commute. But that brings me to the end of 2000. Did I really live in three places that year? Wow!

Let's move on to 2001.